PERSONAL PRONOUNS 89 Ex. -"The poor widow lost her only son." Here "widow" is the antecedent of "her." "True to his flag, the soldier braved even death." "Soldier" is the antecedent of "his." The antecedent may be a noun, a different pronoun, a phrase, or a clause. Ex.- "A pupil that is studious will learn." "Pupil" is the antecedent of "that." "He who runs may read." "He" is the antecedent of "who." "He desired to pray, but it was denied him." "To pray" is the antecedent of "it." "He has squandered his money, and he now regrets it." "He has squandered his money" is the antecedent of “it.” The antecedent may be omitted; in which case it is said to be understood. LXXXIII. PROPERTIES OF PRONOUNS The properties of a pronoun are gender, person, number, and case. The gender, person, and number of a pronoun are always the same as those of its antecedent, but its case depends upon the construction of the clause in which it is found. LXXXIV. CLASSES OF PRONOUNS Pronouns are divided into four classes: personal, possessive, relative, and interrogative. LXXXV. PERSONAL PRONOUNS Personal pronouns both represent nouns and show by their form whether they are of the first, second, or third person. They are either simple or compound. The simple personal pronouns are I, thou, he, she, and it, with their declined forms, my, mine, me, we, our, us, thy, thine, thee, ye, your, you, his, him, her, its, they, their, them. The compound personal pronouns are formed by adding self or selves to some form of the simple personals; as, myself, yourselves, himself, herself, themselves. 1. Mine and thine were formerly used before words commencing with a vowel sound, in preference to my and thy. They are still used thus in poetry; as, “ Thine eyes I see thee raise.” 66 2. Thou, thy, thine, thee, thyself, and ye, though used in the Bible and other sacred writings, are now seldom used except in poetry and in solemn style. They may be regarded as antiquated forms. You, your, yours, and yourself are now preferred. 3. You, originally plural, and still requiring a verb in the plural number, is used to represent singular as well as plural nouns. 4. We is often used in place of I, in royal proclamations, editorials, and when the speaker or writer wishes to avoid the appearance of egotism; as, "We, George III., King of Great Britain and Ireland, do proclaim," etc. "We formerly thought differently, but have changed our mind." 5. It is sometimes used in the nominative without referring to any particular antecedent; and in the objective for euphony alone; as, “It thunders; "It seems to me"; "It is a true saying"; "Come and trip it on the green.” 6. The compound personal pronouns are used in the nominative and objective cases only. To express emphatic distinction in the possessive case, the word own is used instead of self or selves; as, "Let every pupil use his own book"; "Successful merchants mind their own business, not that of their neighbors." 7. The English language being destitute of a pronoun of the third person singular and common gender, usage has sanctioned the employment of the masculine forms he, his, him, for that purpose; as, in speaking of scholars generally, we say, "A thorough scholar studies his lesson carefully." 8. When reference is made to an assemblage containing males only, or females only, the masculine or feminine forms should be used, as the case may require. 66 9. When pronouns of different persons are used, the second should precede the third, and the third the first; as, " You, and he, and I were boys together." LXXXVIII. RULES FOR PRONOUNS RULE IX. Pronouns must agree with their antece dents in person, gender, and number. RULE X.-A pronoun, with two or more antecedents in the singular, connected by and, must be plural. RULE XI. A pronoun, with two or more antece dents in the singular, connected by or or nor, must be singular. LXXXIX. ORDER OF PARSING PERSONAL PRONOUNS I. A pronoun, and why? 2. Personal, and why? 4. What is its antecedent? 5. Gender, person, and number? Rule. 6. Decline it. 7. Case, and why? 8. Rule. ORDER OF PARSING PERSONAL PRONOUNS 93 MODELS FOR PARSING I have seen him. “I” is a pronoun; personal; it shows by its form whether it is of the first, second, or third person: simple; its antecedent is the name, understood, of the person speaking: gender, first person, singular number, to agree with its antecedent: Rule IX.- -"Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in gender, person, and number:" declined, singular, nom. I, poss. my, obj. me; plural, nom. we, poss. our, obj. us: nominative case. (Rule I.) "Him" is a pronoun; personal; simple; its antecedent is the name, understood, of the person spoken of: masculine gender, third person, singular number, to agree with its antecedent: (Rule IX.) declined, singular, nom. he, poss. his, obj. him; plural, nom. they, poss. their, obj. them: objective case. (Rule VI.) James, lend me your book. "Me" is a pronoun; personal; simple; its antecedent is the name, understood, of the speaker: -gender, first person, singular number, to agree with its antecedent: (Rule IX.) decline it: objective case, it is the indirect object of the transitive verb "lend." (Rule VI.) The soldiers helped themselves. "Themselves" is a pronoun; compound personal; it is formed by adding selves to one of the declined forms of a simple personal: its antecedent is "soldiers": masculine gender, third person, plural number, to agree with its antecedent: (Rule IX.) decline it: objective case, it is the object of the transitive verb "helped." (Rule VI.) I, myself, heard him say so. "Myself" is a pronoun; compound personal; its antecedent is the name, understood, of the speaker: · gender, first person, singular number, to agree with its antecedent: (Rule IX.) decline it: nominative case, in apposition with "I." (Rule IV.) |